This invention relates to the field of safety beds, and more particularly to a safety bed having an adaptively releasable guard rail assembly.
Safety beds are repletely well known and described in the field, such as those which are commonly found in certain medical and geriatric facilities. Generally, these beds include a guard rail assembly which can be raised to prevent the patient from falling out of the bed and lowered to allow the patient ingress and egress from the bed. Known guard rail assemblies, such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,742,959, typically include a top and a bottom horizontal rail as well as a series of spaced vertical bars therebetween. Such assemblies are therefore a lattice type of structure having a number of associated gaps. Other safety or guard rail assemblies for cribs, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,926,870, have similarly xe2x80x9cgappedxe2x80x9d structures.
In spite of fairly strict governmental standards that have been specifically mandated for the construction of safety beds, there have been numerous reported instances in which a patient has fallen not only through gaps in a guard rail assembly, but also between other gaps often created between the lateral side of the mattress and box spring and the guard rail assembly, and between various portions of the bed frame itself. These injuries can not only be traumatic but also catastrophic, producing entrapment and possibly death. Therefore, there is an urgent need in the fields to provide a safety bed which all but eliminates the probability of such injuries as those described above.
A safety bed may not only be required in a hospital or other similar facility, but also in a home care environment. The guard rail assemblies of all known safety beds, however, are typically nonremovable or at a minimum not easily removable from the bed frame. In addition, such assemblies do not readily blend into the decor of a typical bedroom. Therefore, there is a similar need to provide a safety bed which is more conducive to a home-like setting, wherein the safety bed can more closely resemble, for example, a standard or a twin size bed.
It is a primary object of the present invention to overcome the above-noted problems of the prior art.
It is a further primary object of the present invention to provide a safety bed for a medical facility, a geriatric facility, or the like which insures that a patient will not become trapped between a guard rail and any other portion of the bed or bed frame.
Therefore and according to a preferred aspect of the present invention, there is provided a guard rail adapter for a safety bed, said safety bed including a frame for supporting a mattress, said guard rail adapter including:
at least one guard member, said at least one guard member being sized to extend over an entire lateral side of said frame and including an upper end and a lower end;
means for releasably attaching said guard member to the bed frame, said releasable attaching means including hinge means for hingably attaching the lower end of the guard member to the bed frame, wherein said guard member can selectively pivotally move between a first raised position and a second lowered position, such that when in the first position the guard member is in compressive contact with a lateral side of the mattress to minimize the existence of gaps between the bed frame, the guard member, and the mattress, and when the guard member is in the second position permits a patient ingress and egress from said bed.
Preferably, the guard member includes a plurality of transparent windows between the upper end and the lower end which permits a physician or other caregiver to monitor the patient while in a sitting position when the guard member is in the first or raised position.
The guard rail adapter can be separably removable from the safety bed. Moreover, the guard member is preferably made from the same material (e.g., wood) as the bed frame to make the bed more compatible in appearance with a standard, a twin-size or other size bed, such as those intended for ordinary home use.
According to another preferred aspect of the invention, there is provided a safety bed comprising:
a bed frame, said bed frame including a footboard, a headboard, and side rails interconnecting said footboard and said headboard on opposing lateral sides of the bed frame;
a mattress fitted onto said bed frame; and
a guard rail adapter, said adapter including:
at least one guard member, said guard member extending over the entire length of one side of said bed frame and including an upper end and a lower end; and
means for releasably attaching the upper end and the lower end of said guard rail adapter to the bed frame, said releasable attaching means including hinge means for hingably attaching the lower end of the guard rail adapter to the bed frame, said guard member being pivotal between a first position and a second position relative to said bed frame wherein the first position places the upper end of the guard member above an upper surface of the mattress and in compressive contact with a lateral side thereof to prevent gaps between the guard member, the bed frame and the mattress and the second position places the upper end of the guard member beneath the upper surface of the mattress to permit ingress and egress from said bed.
Preferably, the safety bed will function and appear as a standard, twin-size or other size bed when the adapter is removed therefrom, the guard rail adapter being made from a similar material as the bed frame (e.g., wood) such that the safety bed maintains an appearance which is more conducive to a home environment.
An advantage of the present invention is that the guard member when secured in the first position will prevent the patient from falling out of the bed, while also preventing or at least substantially minimizing the incidence of xe2x80x9cgap-relatedxe2x80x9d injuries which can occur using standard known guard rail assemblies. The present guard rail adapter and the safety bed using same are in compliance with the strict governmental standards which are required for facility safety beds.
A further advantage of the present invention is that the guard member is easily movable between the first and second position for a care giver, but not for the patient. In addition, the adapter easily be removed from the bed frame without requiring tools or intensive labor or modifications.
These and other objects, features, and advantages will be readily apparent from the following Detailed Description which should be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.